M5 crash prompts MPs road plea

Last Friday's multi-car crash on the M5 in which seven people were killed and 51 were injured has prompted MPs to call for roads in south-west England to be improved.

The section of the motorway near Taunton, Somerset, had to be closed for 48 hours as police sifted through the debris at the crash site in which 37 vehicles were involved.

Transport Secretary Justine Greening has agreed to meet local MPs to discuss the possibility of improving road links in the region after visiting the crash site on Sunday.

Speaking in the house of Commons, Oliver Colvile, MP for Plymouth Sutton and Devonport, said: "Connectivity with the peninsula, not only by railway but by road, is a very big issue. The M5 is the only arterial dual carriageway that goes the whole way down."

The M5 and the A303 are the only two strategic routes into the south-west England, with the latter having long stretches of single carriageway and plans to tackle congestion at Stonehenge having been scrapped.

Following last Friday's pile-up, traffic jams stretched for miles after vehicles were diverted on to the A38 through North Petherton.